


petal to the metal

by ArtissR0pita



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Flavor Text Narrator Chara (Undertale), POV Second Person, all the souls are ghost kids and frisk gets to meet them, will add tags as fic progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23897944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtissR0pita/pseuds/ArtissR0pita
Summary: There were seven children lost to the Underground. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: befriend them all.This fic is in second person!
Relationships: Chara & Frisk (Undertale)
Kudos: 10





	petal to the metal

**Author's Note:**

> this is going to be chock full of ocs and headcanons! i have a lot of ideas, but am more than glad to hear from y'all, too. a lot of the dialogue is taken directly from the game so uh wahoo!

“Golden flowers. They must have broken your fall.”

You look around. Craning your head, you see the source of light, a shaft of sunlight pouring down from the hole you must have fallen through. You can just make out the rough edges of roots and dirt around the edge. You don’t really think there’s a chance of climbing back out. The grey walls are too sheer. You put your hand against one, just in case, but it is, in fact, very smooth. Resigned to your fate, you make your way to the end of the room.

(You choose not to question the new voice in your head.)

The spot of sunlight seems confined to that one space. The rest of what you generously call a chamber is drastically darker. Enough light remains, however, for you to make out elegant detailing around your only exit. After admiring the architecture of the doorway, and then going through, you find yourself startled by a small yellow flower. You’re even more startled when it speaks.

“Howdy! I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!” 

For some unknown reason, you feel tense around this flower. Sure, he seems nice enough. He’s offered to teach you about this place! They don’t talk a lot about monsters in school. The most you ever really hear is about how there was a war, humans won, and everything is much safer. You’ve never really trusted your teachers in this matter. 

The flower has a bright and cheerful voice. He’s the friendliest face you’ve seen in years.

And then he tries to kill you. Maybe your teachers were right. “Kill or be killed” sheesh, good grief. But seeing your SOUL in front of you, feeling your body about to give, seeing that little yellow bar that says 1 HP? You’re only ten years old, and you suddenly  _ really _ don’t want to die.

Your saviour comes in the form of a large, decidedly female figure dressed all in purple. She rescued you, but you can’t help but feel wary after that violent display from the flower. She introduces herself as Toriel, and speaks in such a calm and kindly manner you try to put yourself at ease. The back of your neck tingles.

Toriel beckons you to follow her, thankfully refraining from touching you, and says she will guide you through what she calls “The Ruins”. You wonder absently what they are ruins  _ of _ . She also calls them the catacombs, which puts you less at ease, but suppose it makes sense that monsters would die between the sealing of the barrier and now. It still makes you feel sad, though. 

As you continue forward, the tension in the air seems to fall away. Everything is evenly lit now, and astonishingly purple. Why can’t human architecture look so cool? You wish there were more purple buildings above ground, and then find yourself wondering if you’ll ever make it back for it to matter. It doesn’t matter; you’re here now, and you are going to make the best of it, or your name isn’t Frisk. 

Toriel walks up a set of stairs and waits for you. You take passing notice of the red leaves arranged in a square, but then your attention is caught by a sparkling yellow.....  _ something _ sitting neatly between the two staircases. You step forward to investigate, and the voice in your head returns, narrating your thoughts for you,( _ “The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination” _ ) even though it’s kind of unnecessary since they’re, you know, your thoughts? You appreciate it anyway. The voice puts things much more eloquently anyway. It then tells you that you can save, which seems like a weird concept, but hey, monsters have magic right? Maybe this is normal here. You shrug internally and agree to save, then continue following Toriel. 

In the next room, she explains further that the Ruins are full of puzzles. She emphasises this by walking in a neat pattern on switches you hadn’t even noticed on the ground. You hope she doesn’t ask you to repeat it, because you definitely weren’t paying attention. “One must solve these puzzles to move from room to room. Please adjust yourself to the sight of them.” She smiles at you and continues walking. You decide to read the sign on the wall before following her:  _ Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road. _ When you look back at the switches on the floor, the two in the middle have not been pressed. You wonder if these are related. 

Toriel makes a wonderful guide through the Ruins, carefully explaining the mechanics of this new place, but patiently letting you look around, too. You are a little concerned when she says that monsters may attack you. You don’t want to fight! Talking to monsters is also a little, well, not the best option, you think, since you don’t really like to talk and have a feeling that most monsters don’t use sign language. You’re determined to find another method of communication. While thinking all of this, though, the dummy you were supposed to be not-fighting ditched you. Even Toriel seems a little dumbfounded. The voice in your head laughs. 

Toriel says there is another puzzle in this room. “I wonder if you can solve it?” You’re a smart cookie, you’re positive you can solve it. You don’t tell her this. Instead, you keep walking behind her and then get stopped. You make a little noise of surprise at the intrusion. Your SOUL is pulled from your chest and your personal narrator takes the role of sports commentator, judging by the voice it puts on. You can not believe that not two minutes after Toriel introduces you to the concept of fighting, this happens. 

“Froggit attacks you!” Choices line up in front of you. You pick ACT, remembering what Toriel told you. You decide to compliment the froggit. The narrator tells you that although it didn’t understand, it was flattered anyway. You smile in this moment of triumph, and then Toriel comes up and glares at the froggit. It leaves, looking vaguely ashamed, but you’re glad there wasn’t any fighting to be had there. 

You now go to the eastern half of the room, where the floor seems to be made entirely of spikes. Your previous happiness turns to dread. You have no idea where to even begin! You read the sign on the wall, but it still doesn’t quite make sense. 

Before you get the chance to hurt yourself, Toriel swoops in. You aren’t sure if she is pitying you or babying you, but either way, you don’t like it, and you don’t like that you’re grateful for it. She takes your hand and leads you across. It doesn’t seem quite so bad with her there. When she’s turned around you step back on the spikes. The path refuses to let you step on anything painful. Perhaps these puzzles aren’t so bad, after all.

It turns out this whole adventure is exhausting. It is an emotional rollercoaster. You think one thing is bad, it isn’t. You think you have got the hang of this other thing, now it’s time to be scared again. Toriel asks you to walk to the end of the room by yourself. She looks nervous. “I’m sorry for this,” she says, and quickly disappears. You swallow, strangely intimidated by this new task. The room seems to stretch before you, but you start walking anyway. You can handle anything in your path!

After about ten seconds, you come to the end of the room and nothing has happened. There is a slight change in decor, meaning that there is a lone white pillar. You leave the path to check it out, but something tells you that makes Toriel nervous. But again, nothing to fear, for she was hiding behind that pillar the whole time! You think it’s kind of silly, but endearing, too. Toriel is a sweet lady. She doesn’t need to know that you’ve been practising your independence for a few years now. 

She gives you a cell phone, telling you to call if there’s ever any trouble. You don’t know how there could be, since she also tells you to stay in this one room and don’t go exploring (you totally will), but you feel pretty content that everything will be fine. She’s got business to attend to, apparently, and leaves you to it. You start looking at the phone and all the options. She hasn’t been gone five seconds, but you decide to call Toriel anyway. She is very cheerful, and kind, and calling her ‘Mom’ just slips right out. You didn’t really mean to, but she had called you her child earlier, and she says she doesn’t mind, if it makes you happy. You tuck that piece of information away, but don’t say it again. The call ends.

Toriel told you to stay put, and for right now you’re willing to listen. You pace along the lighter brick path in the room, a little flash of yellow flickering in your eye. It disappears before you can get a good look at it, so you dismiss it. Could just be those little flashes of light you get sometimes if you blink too hard or something. You sit down against the white stone pillar. 

It’s nice to just sit for a little bit. You don’t know when Toriel will come back (if she is coming back), but you don’t mind just sitting for a few minutes. You close your eyes. The Ruins are a much more peaceful place than some of the places you’ve been on the surface. No one to bother you, ask what a little kid like you is doing around there, tell you to scram. You let out a little sigh of contentment, folding your hands on your belly. 

“Whatcha doing?” The voice in your head asks. You startle almost violently, banging your elbow on the pillar you’re leaning on and making your whole arm tingle. You shake it furiously, hoping it will settle, but it doesn’t help. You scowl at the offending limb. 

“Hey! I  _ asked _ what are you doing?” 

You look up to see a child roughly your age sitting in front of you. They’re wearing a vivid green sweater. Well, mostly vivid? The whole person looks kind of see-through. You blink. Cool, so the voice in your head is actually a ghost? 

“Yeah, I’m dead, dummy. Now, why are you just sitting here? There’s no one to stop you now! Let’s go look around, explore, see all the cool things, come on come on c’mon!!” They stand up, reaching a hand out to help you. You stare in confusion. They aren’t corporeal, are they...? Your hand goes right through them. 

_ Who are you? _ , you sign. You stand up to face them properly, and find them signing a response along with their voice.

“My name is Chara!” They finger-spelled it slowly. Your eyebrows shoot up. 

_ You sign? _

Chara waggles a hand sideways. “Only a little, sorry. I only ever learned how to finger-spell and sign a few words, like ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’.” They demonstrated these. “Are you deaf?” 

You shake your head. 

“Okay, cool. Hope you don’t mind if I just talk, then. Anyway, my name’s Chara. Are you really just going to sit here? There are so many cool things down here!” They gesture around. You raise an eyebrow, because this room is kinda the epitome of boring. They groan at you. “Come on!” 

You leave the long hallway-type room. It opens into a room with so many more options. Without Toriel here, you find yourself a little nervous. Your ghostly friend doesn’t seem to notice. There’s a froggit right in front of you. You take a step forward, only for your new phone to ring. 

“Hello! This is Toriel.” Yeah, you figured, since she’s the only number in the phone right now. “You have not left the room have you?” You freeze, side-eyeing Chara. Toriel warns you that there are dangerous puzzles ahead. You relax, because the puzzles here aren’t all that bad. Chara snickers at you. You stick your tongue out at them and Toriel hangs up. 

You go to say hello to the froggit. It speaks in a croaking language you don’t understand, but Chara translates for you. “It has some advice for battling monsters,” they tell you. You don’t really want to battle  _ anyone _ but it is probably best to listen anyway. It surprises you by asking you instead to use mercy. Chara says it in a really specific way. You get the feeling this will be important later. You smile at the froggit and thank it for the advice.

You decide to head up into the next room, since the other way seems to be the way forward. It is a small room, slightly dimmer than the rest of the ruins you have seen so far. In the center of the room is a bowl of candy. There is a little sign on it that says ‘Take one’. Well, it gave you permission, so you take a piece. Upon further investigation, you find out it has ‘a distinct, non-licorice flavor’. Good to know, you guess. The nutrition facts printed on the side are kind of weird: instead of calories or sugar or anything you are used to, it just says it heals 10 HP. What’s HP?

You look around the room sneakily and take another piece of candy. Chara’s voice in the back of your head tells you you’re disgusting. You decide not to take another piece.

After leaving the room, feeling only slightly ashamed, you check out the little gold star-looking thing that Chara helpfully calls a save point. “Playfully crinkling through the leaves fills you with determination,” they say in a clear voice. You jump in the leaves, which are indeed very crinkly. It’s a good feeling. “File saved,” Chara says under their breath. 

You keep walking, hopping in each pile of leaves, and generally creating a ruckus, when whoa! A surprise encounter! A new monster approaches you meekly. It looks very nervous, maybe a little sad? Chara calls it Whimsun. You try to cheer it up, but it instead bursts into tears and runs away. You blink in confusion. Chara gives you a ghostly pat on the shoulder. “You won!” You don’t feel like you won anything, though. 

Carrying on with your journey, the next room is bizarre. The ground is really soft in the middle. You don’t like that. Chara urges you forward. You fall through the floor and onto a pile of leaves. It was a short fall, so you aren’t hurt, but you ain’t exactly happy about it either. You exit to the right and find yourself on the other side of the soft floor. You sigh and keep going. 

Toriel calls you again. You gesture for Chara to shush so you can hear better. “For no reason in particular, which do you prefer? Cinnamon or butterscotch?” You hum, thinking. Chara tells you cinnamon. You keep thinking. They repeat cinnamon, louder. You tell Toriel you prefer butterscotch. You hope this isn’t a test. Chara looks at you mutinously. 

Toriel calls back two seconds later. “You do not  _ dislike _ cinnamon, do you?” You like both pretty equally, actually, you just wanted to see Chara squirm. Toriel thanks you and hangs up. Chara refuses to look at you. 

On the wall is a sign that reminds you of some of those toothpaste commercials on the surface. “Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them.” Nine out of ten dentists recommend- Chara huffs. Behind you is a rock. Across the room are some spikes. Between the two is a pressure plate. What more do you need?

The next room has a floor entirely composed of soft ground. Your nose wrinkles. It’s too squishy... You fall through the floor. You grumble to yourself, about to make your way back up, but halt. There are leaves strategically arranged on the floor. A sign on the far wall asks you not to step on them. You think this is another puzzle. You memorize the pattern and head back up. 

Well, you thought you memorized it. 

Chara laughs at you, but helps you get across. You reckon it’s easier for them since they don’t have a body to fall through the floor. They can probably float everywhere and not be bothered. 

More rocks. Easy peasy. Chara seems to take great amusement in this, and waits in expectation. You don’t understand until you get to the last rock. What an uncooperative rock! Before you can keep fussing at it, more froggits get to you. This is too much! You throw wild compliments at them both and keep pushing the rock. Chara won’t stop laughing. The room still smells like mustard seed from the encounter with the froggits. You understand life is difficult for those creatures, what with their meowing and other unusual noises. You relate to them. The rock finally sits on the pressure plate.

You are so ready to get a move on. The rock leaves the pressure plate. You want to scream. Chara reminds you that only three grey rocks like being pushed around. You suppose this is the fourth rock. You wonder about other coloured rocks. Interesting. You try to push the frustration from your mind and cross the spikes.

You see a little mouse hole in the wall. The mouse squeaks. There is cheese on a table across from the mouse hole. You go to pick it up and give it to the mouse, but it’s stuck. Well, mice are nothing if not tenacious. You save instead. “Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese... It fills you with determination.” You nod fiercely. You believe in that little mouse!

In the next room, a ghost is laying on a pile of leaves. Unfortunately, it is directly in your path. You look back at Chara. These two ghosts look very different; Chara looks like a regular kid, with human features like you, but the ghost on the floor looks more like a stereotypical kids  _ costume _ . It has no defining features, except very large eyes. 

As you step closer, it seems to be asleep. Or, well, pretending to be...? Chara tells you it really is saying the letter z out loud, repeatedly. You nudge the ghost with your foot. And, whoa, okay, up it gets.

“Here comes Napstablook!” Chara returns to their announcer voice. You look at your options. Check? “This monster doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor...” 

The ghost looks vaguely affronted. “Oh, I’m  _ real _ funny,” they intone. They cry directly on your soul. That stings. You’re not really a fan of these battle minigame things, or whatever they are. Real, direct, physical pain? Ouch. 

“Napstablook is wishing they weren’t here.”

Well, you can’t have that! You are now determined to make friends with this ghost. You glance back at your choices, trying to decide between two of them. Screw it. Flirt. You use a silly pick-up line. Napstablook seems to take you seriously, but rejects you. “I’d just weigh you down...” Scientifically speaking, untrue. Ghosts are incorporeal, meaning they don’t weigh anything, right?

You try to cheer them up, instead. You smile, and tell silly jokes, and Napstablook looks just a little bit better. They want to show you something.

Oh! They have a little hat now! Dapper blook asks if you like it. You cheekily respond with another pick-up line. They seem to be embarrassed...... The fight ends.

They mumble something about meeting someone nice in the Ruins and disappear. You’re a little sad to see them go, but glad you could cheer them up some! You wonder if you’ll get to see them again some time. They seem pretty chill. 

Chara tells you to go forward. You want to go up, though? They keep pestering you until you relent and- oh! A little room that smells delicious! The sign says it is a spider bake sale, which makes sense. There are two very big spider webs along the wall. All proceeds go to real spiders! Surely you should help?

You only have enough gold for a spider donut, so that’s what you get. You make a mental note to come back for the cider some time. The donut is wrapped in a soft napkin, perfect for your travelling storage (your pockets). You hope it won’t get squished. 

A sign in the next room has an ad for the spider bake sale. You are certainly glad you went. Chara points out the last line. You look back at your pocket. You hope the donut wasn’t made from poisonous spiders. That would be quite unfortunate. Maybe you can give it to someone else? You talk to the froggits.

Chara translates their ribbits for you, but you still don’t quite understand the first two. Chara says they’ll explain later. The last frog is more serious. “You are quite merciful, for a human.” Have there been other humans here, less kind? You think back to the stories of when the barrier was sealed. The war. You guess that wasn’t very merciful. The froggit continues speaking, oblivious to your concerns. “Surely you know by now that a monster wears a yellow name when you can spare it.” Ah, you had noticed that earlier, but hadn’t quite put it together. You’ll pay more attention in the future. “Sparing just means you won’t fight. Maybe you’ll have to spare someone even when their name isn’t yellow.” The froggit says it lightly, but the implication weighs heavily on your mind. Chara is silent. 

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter. done. next chapter: more ruins! more toriel! more ghosts!  
> my tumblr is @/seagullcharmer if you wanna talk!


End file.
